


Time is never our friend

by Lisannedekruijk



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Virus, Worried Parent Hank Anderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-04-11 16:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19113145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisannedekruijk/pseuds/Lisannedekruijk
Summary: Connor accidentally downloads a virus from a victim in Hank's and his latest case, and now there's a race against the clock. Can Connor find a way to save himself before his time runs out? Or will Hank lose another son?





	1. Error

The only times Hank had seen Connor in an unresponsive state was when it died. He still remembered the first time quite vividly. He remembered the failed attempt at interrogating the deviant android. He remembered how Connor grabbed its arm and its synthetic skin disappeared. Hank had not expected that and he was a little shocked by it. But what followed was worse. Humans and androids alike said that androids couldn’t feel pain, but pain was the only word Hank could use to describe the expression on Connor’s face. Its eyes were wrenched shut and its jaw was clenched. Its breathing, albeit just for show, was fast and shallow. The deviant android almost seemed to be having a stroke. Its eyes were flashing back and forth underneath its half closed eyelids and it sat rigid in its chair, trembling slightly every now and then.

 

Suddenly Connor’s eyes shot open. It let go of the deviant and sat back a little.

 

“I accessed its memory,” it said, and Hank could have sworn that it sounded disturbed, “I know what happened.” With that Connor stood up and went to leave the room. Just as the door opened, the deviant android started banging its head against the table. Connor froze for a second and turned away from the doorway, allowing Hank and the others to enter the interrogation room. 

 

“What are you waiting for? Stop it!” 

 

The cop grabbed the android by the shoulders in an attempt to keep it from bashing its head in, but it was too strong for him.

 

“I- I can’t stop it!” the cop said. He lunged forward and started to uncuff the android. As soon as it was free it grabbed the cop’s gun. Time seemed to slow down as it fired the gun. For a second Hank thought it was firing at him, but those fears were dismissed as he heard the bullet hit the wall somewhere to his right. He turned just in time to see Connor’s head cock back and blue blood sprayed out of the back of its head. It was dead before it hit the floor.

 

The second time Connor had died was in the Stratford tower and it haunted Hank in his sleep almost every night. Connor had gone off to the kitchen to interrogate the androids there. Hank had stayed in the broadcasting room until he heard noises come from the kitchen. At first he didn't see anything upon entering the kitchen, but then he heard Connor call out.

 

“Hank! I need help!” it sounded like Connor was in pain and struggling to produce any sound at all. Once again Hank found himself wondering if androids could feel pain. But his thoughts immediately went to Connor as he saw him dragging himself forward with his arms, leaving a trail of blue blood behind. Hank was on his knees and cradling Connor’s head in seconds.

 

“Come on, son. We're gonna save you.” he didn't want to admit it, but he had grown to care about Connor and seeing him in this state hurt. He looked so vulnerable and so… human. His usually impeccably neat shirt had been ripped open and there was a gaping hole in his chest.

 

“Deviant-” Connor struggled, “there was a- deviant.” his head lolled backwards and his eyes drifted shut. Just like that he was gone. He knew that Connor would be back, but that didn't make it any easier. Hank didn't have a lot of time to mourn, however. He heard a commotion in the hallway and after some inner debate he left Connor in the kitchen. As he made his way to the door he saw something blue and glowing. He bent down to pick it up and realized it looked like a biocomponent. He figured it was best to keep it until he knew what to do with it and so he put it in his pocket. That could wait until later. He needed to watch the CCTV footage to find out what happened to Connor and maybe track the deviant. He went back out into the broadcast room and immediately a cop came up to him.

“Lieutenant! The deviant has been apprehended, sir!” 

 

Hank nodded grimly and told the cop to make sure it wouldn’t self-destruct. He then went over to the desk where the CCTV footage was shown. He sat down and clicked on the footage from the kitchen. He sped it up as he saw some office workers get a cup of coffee, sit down and talk. It took a while, but he finally saw Connor enter the kitchen and start interrogating the androids. A small smile formed on his lips. He had never seen Connor so… angry or intimidating before and he most certainly did not want to be on the receiving end of that glare. And his ‘goofy’ voice was a lot scarier when he was shouting. 

 

On the footage he saw one of the androids move his eyes nervously to Connor and back to a spot right in front of him. Connor must have noticed it too, because he stepped up to the android and spoke directly to it, trying to guilt trip it. It didn’t work. Instead the deviant shoved Connor away from him and they started to fight. The deviant had taken Connor by surprise but he was starting to gain the upper hand. That was until the deviant slammed Connor against the kitchen counter, the shock momentarily paralyzing him. 

It took advantage of that and grabbed a knife. Connor could merely hold up his hand as the deviant brought down the knife, which resulted in the knife going through his hand. The deviant then impaled the blade into the kitchen counter and ripped open Connor’s shirt. He struggled against it but with only one hand he was no match for it. The deviant reached forward, grabbed something and pulled it out before tossing it to the floor several feet away. Hank recognized it as the biocomponent he had in his pocket and the thought made him sick. 

He contemplated getting rid of it, but since it looked undamaged he instead chose to keep it. Like he said before, he never knew when he might need it. The deviant just left Connor hanging against the counter and left the kitchen. Hank had to watch as Connor tried to get the knife out of his hand but he couldn't pull hard enough. He then called out. For Hank. It had been the same anguished cry that had drawn Hank’s attention to his dying partner upon entering the kitchen. When no answer came, Connor kicked over a chair, in hopes of getting someone to investigate the noise. Hank had been right outside at that moment, but hadn't thought it was that important. God, how he sometimes hated himself. 

He then saw Connor give one final try at pulling the knife out of his hand, yanking it free with a groan. He then crumpled to the floor because the knife was no longer keeping him in place. He stayed like that on the floor for a few seconds before he started to drag himself forwards with his arms. Then he saw himself come in and he shut off the footage. 

 

The feeling of Connor going limp in his arms was something he never, ever wanted to feel again.   
  


Nearly 5 months had passed since then and the androids and humans were living together in Detroit in a somewhat peaceful manner. Sure, there were still crimes involving androids and humans, but it was to be expected. Marcus’ peaceful protest had inspired most of the other androids to lead a peaceful life as well, and because of that the tensions in the city were low. As low as they could be for a somewhat poor city with a high unemployment rate and a drug problem. 

 

Connor had reunited with Hank after the revolution and had sort of moved in with him. At first, Connor had tried to find an apartment of his own but every time he got close to finding something Hank had thought of a reason to put it off. Eventually Connor got the hint and stopped looking, much to the delight of Hank. In return, the grumpy old Lieutenant had given him Cole’s old room.

 

Connor was in the middle of decorating - which meant putting down a little cactus on his nightstand - when Hank and him were called to the station. An android had been found dead in an alleyway near the docks. 

 

“Time to go, Connor. Duty calls.”

  
  


\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The crime scene wasn’t interesting in itself. There were no traces of blood, whether it be blue or red, and there was no sign of an attacker anywhere. Yet there still was a dead body, slumped against the wall. It was an AX400 model, and for a split second Connor was scared it was Kara. Then he remembered that Kara was safe and sound with Luther and Alice in Canada. This android only looked like her. 

 

She had no injuries that he could make out with the naked eye. Her cause of death had to be internal, then. A quick scan proved his hypothesis to be correct. All her biocomponents were fried, as well as a large part of her wiring. Strange, Connor thought, this all happened across the span of several days. Why did she not seek assistance? A quick facial recognition scan later gave him his answer. She was unemployed and homeless and had had nowhere to go. He shivered at the thought. This poor girl had been fried from the inside out and she couldn’t stop it. 

 

“I know what happened, Lieutenant,” Connor started, “her systems and biocomponents have suffered extensive damage. They are quite literally fried. This also happened in -” he performed another scan on the fried electronics, “roughly three days.” 

 

Hank’s eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair as he looked down on the android in surprise.

 

“Three days? Do we know what caused her systems to be so damaged?”

 

Connor shook his head. His scans had not found any reasons why she was so damaged internally.

 

“I would have to take a look at her software to say what caused it. I haven’t found anything in my previous scans.” As he finished talking, he reached out his hand to touch the android’s head. His artificial skin had already disappeared but he stopped at the last moment.

 

“Don’t be alarmed if I temporarily go into standby mode, Lieutenant. This will free up some RAM and it will allow me to perform the scan quicker.” He saw Hank nod and he put his hand to the other android’s temple. He saw the strings of her coding dance in front of his eyes. Nothing seemed to be wrong. So far everything was- there! He saw a string of unfamiliar code and he mentally reached out to grab it. As soon as he got a closer look at it, and electrical current passed between him and the AX400. And it… hurt? He found himself flinching away from the girl involuntarily. His hand burned and the painful sensation climbed up his forearm. He closed his eyes for a second to try and block out the pain.

 

When he opened his eyes again, Hank was leaning over him. He had been propped up against the wall and the older man was shaking his shoulders frantically. His audio processors were offline apparently, because he was sure Hank was talking but he couldn’t hear anything. His optical visors weren’t fully functioning either. Everything was a blur and his eyes refused to focus. Red blinked in his vision but the errors were unreadable. Connor thought a reboot might be the best course of action. His eyes drifted shut again.

  
  


\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


“Don’t be alarmed if I temporarily go into standby mode, Lieutenant. This will free up some RAM and it will allow me to perform the scan quicker.” Hank nodded and watched as Connor put his fingers against the android’s temple. His LED flickered yellow for a few seconds before a literal spark of energy sprung from the AX400 to Connor. Now, he didn’t know much about androids, but he was fairly certain that wasn’t supposed to happen. Connor’s reaction only confirmed his theory.

 

He pulled his hand back as though he had been burned and he fell backwards. His right arm was twitching ever so slightly but other than that Connor stayed perfectly still. Hank waited a couple of seconds but Connor didn’t show any signs of being awake. He made his way over to the unresponsive android and fear threatened to take over his thoughts. He would not let it, no way that Connor would go so easily. Not after everything he’d lived through. He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him slightly. No response. His artificial breathing had quickened a lot, so much even, that he was panting. His brows were furrowed together and he seemed to be in some state of discomfort. Hank hauled him up from the ground and let him rest against the wall opposite from the dead android.

 

Connor’s LED was bright red and flashing rapidly. Hank shook him again and again, hoping to get some sort of reaction from him. After what felt like an eternity Connor opened his eyes again but his gaze was far away. It seemed to look right through him and he wasn’t responding to anything else. His LED turned yellow for a few seconds, then settled on blue as Connor’s eyes drifted shut. 

 

No amount of shaking could wake Connor up for now, and seeing that his LED was blue it meant that Connor had entered what Hank called ‘sleep mode’. He knew from experience that Connor could stay in this mode for up to 12 hours, depending on how charged he was. Once, after going without charging for nearly 2 months he had just collapsed on Hank’s couch and not woken up until nearly half a day later. It had scared the shit out of Hank and Connor had since been trying to ‘sleep’ more regularly to avoid such a thing from happening again. 

 

So Hank decided to carry the ‘sleeping’ android to the car. He laid him down on his backseat and buckled him up with all three seatbelts just in case. Once he got home, he carried Connor to the couch. Sumo came padding over to get his daily dose of love and affection form the android and whined softly when he noticed something was wrong with him.

 

“Sorry, Sumo. I don’t think Connor will be petting you for the next few hours.”

 

With that, the dog shuffled back to it’s blanket and fell down, a deep sigh escaping it. Its head was laying on its paws and he was looking at Connor intently, a soft whine escaping him every now and then.

 

“I know, buddy,” Hank said, “I’m worried too.”


	2. Unexpected developments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor takes a closer look at what caused his temporary malfunction and discovers something .... unpleasant.

**_Rebooting…_ **

 

**_Primary systems:_ **

**_…_ **

**_OK_ **

  
  


**_Secondary systems:_ **

**_…_ **

**_OK_ **

  
  


**_Processor:_ **

**_…_ **

**_Online_ **

  
  


**_Memory core:_ **

**_…_ **

**_Online_ **

**_…_ **

**_restoring memories…_ **

 

**ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE**

 

As Connor ‘woke up’ from his rebooting, the first thing he noticed was a slightly uncomfortable feeling spread throughout his body, but the more he tried to focus on it the more he felt it slip away, until he couldn't feel it anymore. The next thing that caught his attention was the slight snoring coming somewhere from his right. He looked down at the floor and saw Sumo sleeping soundly, his head propped up on his paws. That's funny, Connor thought, Sumo usually sleeps on his blanket. Why not now?

 

He sat up a little straighter to try and look at the blanket in the corner of the room. His synthetic muscles wouldn't let him lift himself off the couch very far, however, and he plopped back down as his arms tensed up. Sumo woke up because of the sound and after sniffing Connor’s face briefly, he started for Hank’s bedroom.

 

“Sumo, no! Don't wake him up!”

 

But it was too late. He heard a soft noise followed by a grunt and Connor realized Sumo must've jumped onto Hank while he was laying down. A string of curse words drifted down the hall and out came Hank, still wearing the clothes he was wearing at the crime scene. Judging by the state of said clothes and his hair sticking out in different places, he must've been sleeping. It was clear to see that he was not very awake yet, his eyes were still half closed and he yawned as he shuffled into the living room. But as soon as he saw Connor up and awake on his couch he wasted no time in wrapping his arms around the android.

 

“Jesus Christ, you scared the shit outta me, kid.” He mumbled into Connor’s shoulder. He didn't know how to respond to he sudden outburst of affection for a second, but eventually he wrapped his arms around Hank too.

 

“I'm sorry, lieutenant. I'll try to prevent such a scenario in the future.”

 

Hank took Connor by the shoulders and looked at him for s few seconds. Connor didn't know what he looked like currently, but he supposed his usually slicked back hair had been ‘ruffled up’, as Hank would say.

 

“What happened back there?” Hank asked Connor with an uncertainty in his voice. “I almost thought I lost you again.”

 

Connor shook his head, still slightly confused: “To be honest, lieutenant, I’m not quite sure myself. I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

 

Hank turned to Connor, and while stroking his beard he asked: “Do you have any idea what it might have been?”

 

“I’m not sure, lieutenant. Since the events of yesterday I’ve been feeling a sensation throughout my body I’ve never felt before, because my synthetic muscles and artificial joints don’t just stiffen up.”

 

Hank was visibly distressed by what Connor told him: “What?! I can’t just let you keep walking around like nothing happened! This thing obviously tampered with your systems. You have to get this checked out! Remember they don’t make them like you anymore, Connor. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. And I’m not about to let that happen.”

 

“Lieutenant, I promise to perform a diagnostic test as soon as possible. I’m just feeling a little off, that’s all. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

 

It was obvious Hank wasn't satisfied with Connor’s response, so he pressed on.

 

“Alright, go ahead. I'll stay here to hear what you find.” He says as he moves to sit down besides Connor.

 

“Now?” The android asked, surprise evident in his voice. Hank simply nodded and crossed his arms, signaling the subject was not up for debate. Feeling weirdly self conscious he closed his eyes.

 

**_Initiating full diagnostic scan…_ **

 

**_Scanning…_ **

 

**Scan interrupted. Entering low power mode.**

 

As soon as he initiated the scan, Connor felt the burning feeling return. It didn't keep to his hand this time, and soon it felt like his whole body was on fire. He hadn't known what pain felt like before, but he was certain this was it. He tensed up involuntarily as electrical surges ran through his systems. His audio and optical sensors kept switching between offline and online for a few seconds before they came to a rest: audio sensors online, optical sensors offline. He was blind for the moment but could still hear.

 

Then suddenly the electrical current shut off as fast as it had appeared and Connor felt himself go limp, no longer in control of his own body. He felt himself falling and he would've slipped to the floor if Hank hadn't stopped him. His strong hands eased him against the back of the couch and the gruff detective was whispering soft things to him, though he couldn't quite catch it.

 

Another second passed before his self repair kicked in and his optical sensors went online again. Hank grabbed his hand as he noticed Connor looking around sluggishly.

 

“You with me, kid?” Hank asked, worry evident on his face. Connor looked at him and frowned slightly.

 

“I never left, lieutenant.”

 

“For fuck’s sake! You know what I mean! You just sat there for a solid five minutes, not blinking, not moving, nothing!” Hank yelled. He ran a hand through his hair and started pacing back and forth in front of the tv. Connor felt his proverbial heart skip a beat. Five minutes? Surely he wasn't in low power mode for that long?

 

While trying to hide his uncertainty, Connor said as calmly and controlled as he could: “Lieutenant, please. I’m fine. It’s probably some sort of bug in my software, I’ll retry the diagnostics.”

 

“NO! I won’t let you do that again! We need to get you checked out, or something!” Hank said while seemingly searching for something, but he didn't know what.

 

“Please don’t let your feelings dictate your actions lieutenant, this is a serious problem that requires a professional course of action. The most sensible next step is for me to retry my diagnostics. I don’t see how a simple diagnostic scan could lead to anything fatal.” Connor wasn't even sure he believed that himself, but he was utilizing all the opportunities he had to calm Hank down. He was designed to be a negotiator, after all.

 

“Aren’t you listening? I said NO. Did that diagnostic damage your audio sensors or something? For once Connor, listen to me.” Connor’s attempts to cool the conversation didn’t seem to be having much effect, so he decided on more drastic measures.

 

“I’m sorry, lieutenant.”

 

**_Initiating full diagnostic scan…_ **

 

**_Scanning…_ **

 

**Fatal error. Some systems might be compromised.**

 

Again, that burning sensation returned to every inch of his body. This time seemed to be worse than the last time, though. In a very unfortunate chain of events, Connor’s muscles contracted and relaxed in rapid succession. As soon as Hank saw Connor seizing on the couch he ran to him and pulled him to the floor. Connor’s arms were flailing all over and Hank tried to push them to his chest so he wouldn't hurt himself, but he was too late. Connor’s right hand scraped Hank’s cheek.

 

Everything happened so fast, it caught Hank off guard. At first he got scared. But shortly after he felt the sharp pain coming from his now bleeding cheek, and anger quickly replaced the shock. The damn kid never listened!

 

Luckily, Connor didn't hurt the lieutenant or himself anymore. It was the same as before: systems like audio, vision and vocal modulators just randomly turned on and off, until they stabilized.

 

When he regained consciousness, Connor was laying flat on the ground. Before he could open his eyes, he felt Sumo lick his face. It felt... nice. He wanted to open his eyes so he could pet the dog, but just opening his eyelids took an incredible effort. His eyes eventually opened, very slowly and carefully, but they remained open in the end. Hank was calmly rocking on a chair next to him, with his left cheek facing Connor. He had a concerned look on his face.

 

“Connor, we have to talk.” Hank said with a dead serious tone.

 

Connor opened his mouth, but his speech systems were apparently still offline.

 

“Don’t try to pull any tricks on me this time, son.”

 

He tried to pull himself up to sit down and face Hank, but he failed and fell down again. He looked up at Hank again and he got a clear look of his right cheek. The surprise created by what he saw created a small electrical surge, which coincidentally re enabled his speech.

 

“When- when did that happen?”

 

“This?” Hank pointed at his right cheek. There was a small scratch running right down his cheek and several other red patches were visible alongside the scratch.

 

Connor looked down at his hands and noticed the red stains, although they were very small.

 

“I didn’t- did I? No… Oh no.”

 

He attempted to recreate the scene, but nothing happened. Instead his vision filled with error messages and glitches, all saying the same thing. Scanners offline. Anomaly in software detected 

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. It’s just a scratch, that’s all. I’m more worried about you. I’m not sure what exactly is going on with you, but you have to start taking it more seriously. Your ‘defect’ is obviously doing something to you.” After finishing his sentence, Hank closed his eyes to think about his next words.

 

“Lieutenant, you have to trust me, I didn’t know-”

 

“Neither do I, Connor.” Hank interrupted Connor. “That’s exactly the problem. You know, I’ve got a bad feeling about this! We should've been more careful!”

 

“Lieutenant, with all due respect, I don’t see any other logical next step in this process.”

 

“The investigation.”

 

“Wait, what?” Connor said, visibly confused.

 

“Isn’t it obvious? There must be a connection between what you are experiencing and what happened to that android from the investigation. If we figure out what happened to it, we might be able to help you.” Hank looks enlightened, and in his excitement the speed at which he talked continually rose.

 

“You think that what happened to it…” Connor trailed off.

 

“Maybe, maybe not. Did you find anything other than the initial damage? Something that could give us some more information as to how to fix it?” 

 

Connor’s shoulders nearly sagged when he thought about the code he’d seen, and for a second he wanted to tell Hank. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't make Hank worry. The man couldn't take another scare like that, not after everything that happened in the last 14 hours or so. Especially not after Cole. And for the first time since he escaped from Cyberlife a mission popped up in his vision.

 

_ Do not worry Hank. _

 

“There was something,” Connor began, “When I scanned the AX400 there was something wrong with her software…”  He goes silent for a while and pretends to try and remember what it was. He knew perfectly well what it was but he didn’t want to tell Hank that.

 

“There was… a malfunction of sorts. I believe that is what caused her to overheat, which may in turn have caused the internal damage.” He said, hoping Hank would buy it. He knew the older detective wasn’t good with technology and he hoped that he wouldn’t know that overheating couldn’t cause this extensive kind of damage. 

 

Hank crossed his arms and frowned, but didn’t protest. If he didn’t believe Connor, he had at least decided to keep his mouth shut about it.

 

“What about you, then? Did you download that … malfunction into your brain?” Hank asked, leaning forward just a bit. Connor shook his head. 

 

“I cannot download data from an android that way, most certainly not a deceased one, lieutenant. I think my system errors are a result of trying to interface with incompatible software. I was not designed to interface that way.” Another partial lie. He was indeed not designed to interface with other androids that way, but it didn’t mean that he couldn’t do it. And he was pretty sure that whatever had caused his system failures was the same thing that had killed the female android. That meant he was going to need new biocomponents, and fast. Unless he wanted to end up dead in an alleyway, fried on the inside. He shivered at the thought.

 

“What did your scan discover? Just a software malfunction or something worse?” 

 

Connor looked up at Hank. He couldn’t tell him that he was already not doing too well. His scanners were offline, his audio sensors and optical visors were damaged by the constant turning off and on and his fine motor skills had been compromised as well. He was willing to bet that he couldn’t do any tricks with his coin right now. Instead, he told Hank a downplayed version of the report he had received.

 

“There are slight anomalies in my software, yes. But it shouldn’t be much of a problem and it’s nothing I can’t get fixed. Though I do admit that this occurrence has disrupted my fine motor skills.” 

 

Hank nodded, and Connor could swear he saw the man in front of him relax. Seeing Hank like that only made Connor more determined to find a solution to this problem before Hank would get hurt. And he knew just the place to go. New Jericho.

  
  


It took a bit of convincing that he was fine and that if something were to happen he’d wake him up immediately, but eventually Hank agreed to get some sleep. As soon as he heard snores coming from the bedroom Connor grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.

 

_ Hank,  _

 

_ I'm going to New Jericho to see if they can help. It’s only for a little while, I’ll be back before you’ll even notice I’m gone. And yes, I will be careful.  _

 

_ Connor _

 

He left the note on the kitchen table where Hank was sure to see it when he woke up the next morning and with that he set out for New Jericho.

  
  


It took him roughly an hour before he reached the abandoned industrial site where the deviants had built their home. Two empty factory halls had been remodeled and repurposed for the androids’ needs, and things were going well for them. Ever since the end of the revolution, Markus had been involved in several peace meetings and negotiations concerning android rights. There was still a lot of ground to cover, but so far the androids had gained the rights to have private property and companies now had to pay them wages too. But that wasn’t all. The most important thing had come from the downfall of Cyberlife industries. With its main source of income gone, it had instead focused on producing and selling separate biocomponents for all models. All models, except for the RK200 and the RK800. For Markus this wasn’t really a problem. His biocomponents were compatible with most other models, and he could swap them without much of a problem. Connor, however, could not. His thirium pump was the biggest problem, his was far more powerful than standard ones, being designed for high speed chases and fights. If he were to use a normal thirium pump his other biocomponents would shut down because the pressure of the thirium being pumped through his veins would be too low to function. He tried to shake the thoughts off as he got closer to the gate. Who knows, they might have something that could help him out. He just needed to speak with Markus.

 

Markus wasn't home. He was on a diplomatic mission to negotiate living rights for androids with President Warren. Like the AX400 Hank and him had found in the alley, some androids were still homeless. A lot of tenants didn't allow androids to hire or buy a place, and even more people didn't feel comfortable with taking in their android as a person after the rebellion. Connor had been lucky, the lieutenant had almost forced him to stay after the whole rebellion went down, and he was glad for it. He didn't feel comfortable with his ‘fellow' deviants at all, and he felt severely out of place at New Jericho. But today, he had no choice. He needed to stay alive. He couldn't just leave Hank.

 

But that was easier said than done. He needed Markus to deal with this. He was the only one who knew which biocompartments they had in store and he was also one of the few he trusted within New Jericho. So instead he talked to Simon. Simon had become Markus’ right hand and possibly something else too, and he was also the one Connor trusted the most in this situation. Simon had agreed to call Connor immediately when Markus returned, and with that Connor set off for home again.

 

During his walk he thought about the other android and the …. virus he'd accidentally downloaded. If the same thing that was happening to him had happened to her, he only had about 2 days left. 2 days to somehow find a fix for this whole situation, and he currently had no idea how to fix it, not until Markus got back. God, he hoped that would be soon.

 

To make his mood even worse it starting snowing heavily while he was still more than half an hour away from Hank’s house. The cold seeped into his body and was already making his movements more sluggish. A side effect of my thyrium cooling down, Connor thought. He commanded his fans to work just a little bit slower so his internal heat could keep his thyrium warm. While being distracted with the settings of his cooling unit, he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. He didn't hear or notice the two men behind him speed up. He didn't notice them until the biggest of the two had grabbed him from behind. The smaller one was brandishing a bat and let it scrape over the pavement a little. Probably to be intimidating, Connor realized. 

 

“What's an android doing all alone on the street in the middle of the night, huh?” the short one teased. Connor tensed up in anticipation of whatever was about to happen, but he remained silent.

 

“Answer me, plastic boy!” the short one teased again.

 

“I… That doesn't concern you. Please, let me go on my way.” Connor answered. There was a beat of silence before the tall one grabbing him from behind spoke.

 

“Shit! This is the detective android! We gotta go, man!” his grip tightened as he spoke and Connor estimated his chance of getting out of this situation unharmed at about 62%. The odds weren't great, but he'd faced worse before. He saw the eyes of the man in front of him widen in shock before he, too, was cursing.

 

“Fuck, dude! We can't just walk away now! He's seen our faces!” his chances of remaining unharmed dropped to 14% and lowered with the second. Before he could react, he heard the  _ whoosh _ of something being swung through the air and he heard a sickening crack. He hadn't known the other man had a bat too, but apparently he did and it had struck him hard on the right side of his face. The momentum of the impact turned his head to the left and suddenly he was falling. His face soon collided with the frozen grass. His vision showed static for a moment before correcting itself, but other than that he seemed okay. When he tried to get up, however, he found he couldn't move anymore. Whatever it was that had cracked, it had paralyzed him. He tried calling out for help, but his vocal box also appeared to be offline. In a last desperate attempt he tried to call Hank. And he tried again, and again and again.


	3. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank goes out to find his son.

It was close to 5 am when Hank woke up. He had a nasty feeling that he couldn't shake, like his subconscious was trying to tell him something was wrong. In the end, he surrendered to it and made his way to the living room. As he passed the kitchen, he noticed the light was on and that there was something on the table. It was a note from Connor, he discovered upon closer inspection. According to the note Connor wouldn't be gone long, but with whatever was going on with the android and the gut feeling telling Hank something was wrong, he decided to check up on him. His gut feeling was confirmed as soon as he grabbed his phone from the coffee table.

 

_9 missed calls from: Connor_

 

“Shit!” He cursed as he shot back into his bedroom to get dressed. He tried calling Connor back, but he didn't answer. Every time his phone would connect for a second or two, but all he got was static before he was disconnected again. Fear began to nest in his heart. Obviously something had happened to Connor and he currently had no way of contacting him. He would have to go look for him. One look out of the window told Hank that it was going to be a hard night. There was a heavy snowfall going on and he could barely see the other side of the street. Driving was not an option. He was going to need help if he wanted to find Connor. So he rang Simon. Simon had given Hank his contact info in case he needed to contact New Jericho and Hank was really glad he did.

 

_Hello, Hank! What can I do for you?_

 

Hank briefly wondered if Simon would appreciate it if Hank was blunt, but then Hank realized he didn't really care.

 

“Connor, is he- is Connor there with you?” Hank asked, his heart beating in this throat. Please say yes please say yes please say-

 

 _No,_ Simon paused, _he left just over 3 hours ago. He should've been home already. Have you called him yet?_

 

“Fuck! Of course I called him! I just- there's only static whenever the line makes a connection. Just grinding noise before the line cuts itself off. I think something has happened to him and he might need medical assistance. Can you help?”

 

_Of course. I'm going to get Josh and we'll walk Connor’s route. Call me if you find anything, alright?_

 

Hank didn't even bother answering Simon as he shrugged on his coat. He grabbed Sumo’s leash and attached it to his collar. He was going to need his good nose and his company. And with that, they set off to find their missing family member.

  


They had been walking - or rather, pushing - through the snow for over an hour. Hank was finding it hard to see anything at this point, the heavy snowfall had piled up and made a layer that was almost knee high. His pants were soaked and the cold had seeped through his clothes and set in his bones to such an extent that Hank wondered if he would ever feel warm again. Suddenly Sumo’s head shot up and he let out a soft bark to alert Hank he'd found something. He started tugging at his leash and Hank let it go as he followed the dog through the snow. There was a shape in the snow, where the layer stuck out more than in other places. The shape, hank realized, was easily human sized. He felt his heart skip a beat and a vice like pressure was quickly building in his chest. Simon still hadn't called, either.

 

Sumo was already digging away at the snow by the time Hank knelt next to the figure. Only part of a leg was uncovered but there was no mistaking it- the fabric had an uncanny resemblance with the smart pants Connor wore.

 

“Connor! Connor, can you hear me?” Hank asked, but the figure didn't move or respond in any way. Hank started shoveling snow away from the prone figure in an attempt to uncover it as fast as possible. Except for his fast breathing, the soft crunching of snow and Sumo’s panting, the air was quiet. Too quiet. Too much like the android he'd come to love as a son, laying on the ground at Hank's knees. Sumo whimpered softly and nudged Connor’s shoulder, hoping to get any kind of reaction, but nothing happened. Connor lay motionless in the snow.

 

His artificial skin was impossibly pale and his arms and legs were spread out under him awkwardly, as if he’d fallen but hadn't tried to catch himself. His lips were blue and slightly parted. His normally warm and deep brown eyes had changed to a muddy brown color, and they didn't respond to Hank when he tried to get his attention.

 

If he hadn't been on his knees already Hank was sure he would have fallen. He stared at the body of his boy, of his _son_ with disbelief in his eyes. He couldn't be dead. He- he was probably in stasis or something. He cursed androids for not breathing or not having a discernible pulse, because now Hank had no way to check on Connor's condition.

 

“The LED!” Hank suddenly yelled, more to himself than to anyone that might have heard him. He grabbed Connor by the shoulder and flinched at the coldness radiating off of Connor, even through multiple layers of clothing. Sumo understood what his owner was trying to do and promptly pushed his head against Connor's hip to help turn him over. Hank immediately looked at the LED. A choked sob escaped his mouth.

 

Connor's LED was dark.

 

For a moment, the world stopped. An infinite amount of time seemed to pass between one breath and the next, and then the world continued. Just like that. Like it doesn’t care that a man just found his son, half frozen and -

 

“No…. Connor, no!” Another sob forced itself past his tightly clenched lips. Sumo whined and put a paw against Connor’s chest. When even that didn’t get a response from the young android he whined again and laid down, his head on one of Connor’s outstretched arms. Waiting. Guarding. Hank looked at Connor once again, half hoping this was all some elaborate prank, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the massive dent on the back of his head. It hadn’t been visible before, but now Hank could clearly see what had caused Connor to fall. The artificial skin around the area had deactivated and he could see big cracks in the plating of his skull. Thyrium leaked through it and slowly but surely tainted the snow blue. This sort of wound would have been fatal nearly instantly for most humans, and his despair grew as he realized that it would probably be the same for androids. But his despair was wiped away and replaced with anger at the realization that someone did this to Connor. Someone had hit him hard enough to actually _crack_ his skull. Hard enough to- to-

 

“WHY!?” Hank called out. “Why him? What has he ever done to deserve this? I- He- Connor, my boy- you deserved- you should never have ended up like this!” Needing to direct his anger, his grief, his _guilt_ elsewhere, he started pounding his fist on the snow. It was soft and gave way under the onslaught of his fist and it was not satisfying at all. He poured all the emotions waging a war inside his head in one guttural scream and sagged to sit on his heels when he was done screaming. Now he just felt … empty. He barely registered the cold, the wetness of the snow, the blue stain of the thyrium. He barely even noticed Sumo still whining softly as he rest his head on Hank’s thigh. His attention had tunneled until he only saw the lifeless body in his arms, the blank face that rested against his shoulder. He wasn’t sure when or how he had pulled Connor up like that, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

 

He had no idea how much time had passed, but suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. He vaguely became aware that he was no longer crying, and he thought he heard someone say his name. He turned his head to the sound on autopilot and it took him far longer than it should have to realize Simon was kneeling next to him, worry written across his face.

 

“Hank?” he asked carefully, “What happened?”

“What do you think happened?” He gestured at Connor. “I found him like this, buried under the snow. Someone’s hit him on the back of the head real hard, look,” he pointed at the broken plating, “It’s cracked.”

 

Simon sucked in a breath, and it was so normal, so _human_ Hank almost forgot that he wasn’t human. He had often forgotten Connor wasn’t human either.

 

Someone behind Simon cursed. Only then, Hank realized Simon had not come alone. But it wasn’t Josh that had come with the PL600. He was a bit pale and had dark brown, almost black hair. He turned to Hank when he noticed his attention.

 

“Are you alright? Your temperature is abnormally low, you’ll get hypothermia if you stay out here in the cold…” He said, compassion and a hint of worry shining through in his voice. If he was honest, he hadn’t even noticed he was cold. But now that his attention was on it, he started shivering violently.

 

“Let’s get inside. Luke and I can carry Connor back, you’ll have to take Sumo.” With that, Simon reached out his hand to grab Connor’s shoulder, but hesitated. Hank didn’t want to let go of Connor, but some rational part of his mind told him he couldn’t carry Connor and he had to warm up, and soon. So he just nodded and let go of Connor to allow Simon to lift him up.

 

The trek back to Hank’s house was a blur. He was vaguely aware of Sumo bumping into him every now and then, and he could hear Simon and Luke shuffle behind him, Connor a dead weight between them. The next thing he remembered clearly was the cup of coffee that was pushed in his hands. Luke smiled a little as he sat down on the coffee table. Simon had taken one chair and Hank the other. Connor was laid down on the couch. Once they had settled down a bit and the silence began to grow heavy, Simon spoke up.

 

“If it’s alright with you, Hank, I’d like to probe his memory to see what happened,” he said, leaning forwards to face Hank, “To get justice.” Anger threatened to surface again, so Hank just nodded. He doubted he could be polite at the moment, but then again he didn’t really care.

 

Simon reached to take Connor’s hand, and as he did so his artificial skin peeled back to reveal the white plastimetal underneath. Upon nearing Connor’s hand, the skin there disappeared as well. Simon went rigid and his eyelids started fluttering rapidly. Then, as if struck by lightning, he jerked away his hand and stumbled back. The android’s eyes were wide with shock and his hand was shaking slightly. He muttered something, but it was too soft for Hank to make out. Luke, however, seemed to have caught it. He went pale -Hank hadn’t known androids could do that- and held out his hand to interface with Connor. He too, jerked away his hand with eyes as wide as saucers.

 

“rA9 be damned, you’re right,” he said softly, “He's alive!”


End file.
